The Foreign Service Journal, February 2003

2 AFSA NEWS • FEBRUARY 2003 AFSA NEWS BRIEFS Staff: Executive Director Susan Reardon: reardon@afsa.org Business Department Controller Kalpna Srimal: srimal@afsa.org Accounting Assistant Christa Nyamekye: nyamekye@afsa.org Labor Management General Counsel Sharon Papp: papps@state.gov Labor Management Attorney Zlatana Badrich: badrichz@state.gov Labor Management Specialist James Yorke: yorkej@state.gov USAID Labor Management Specialist Douglas Broome: dbroome@usaid.gov USAID Office Manager Suzan Reager: sreager@usaid.gov Grievance Attorneys Harry Sizer: sizerhs@state.gov, an d Neera Parikh: parikhn@state.gov Office Manager Christine Warren: warrenc@state.gov Member Services Director Janet Hedrick: hedrick@afsa.org Representative Lindsay Peyton: peyton@afsa.org Administrative Assistant Ana Lopez: lopez@afsa.org Outreach Programs Retiree Liaison Ward Thompson: thompsonw@afsa.org Director of Communications Thomas Switzer: switzer@afsa.org Congressional Affairs Director Ken Nakamura: nakamura@afsa.org Corporate Relations/Executive Assistant Marc Goldberg: goldberg@afsa.org Scholarship Director Lori Dec: dec@afsa.org Professional Issues Coordinator Barbara Berger: berger@afsa.org AFSA HEADQUARTERS: (202) 338-4045; Fax: (202) 338-6820 STATE DEPARTMENT AFSA OFFICE: (202) 647-8160; Fax: (202) 647-0265 USAID AFSA OFFICE: (202) 712-1941; Fax: (202) 216-3710 AFSA Internet and E-mail addresses: AFSA WEB SITE: www.afsa.org AFSA E-MAIL: afsa@afsa.org AFSA NEWS: afsanews@afsa.org FSJ: journal@afsa.org PRESIDENT: naland@afsa.org STATE VP: cranelk@state.gov RETIREE VP: farrand@member.afsa.org USAID VP: jpastic@usaid.gov FAS VP: afsafas@fas.usda.gov FCS VP: peter.frederick@mail.doc.gov AFSA News Editor Shawn Dorman : dorman@afsa.org (202) 338-4045 x 503; Fax: (202) 338-8244 On the Web : www.afsa.org/news How to Contact Us: Governing Board: PRESIDENT: John K. Naland STATE VICE PRESIDENT: Louise K. Crane USAID VICE PRESIDENT: Joe Pastic FCS VICE PRESIDENT: Peter G. Frederick FAS VICE PRESIDENT: Edwin Porter RETIREE VICE PRESIDENT: Robert W. Farrand SECRETARY: F.A. “Tex” Harris TREASURER: Thomas D. Boyatt STATE REPRESENTATIVES: Pamela Bates, John P. Boulanger, George W. Colvin, Roy Perrin, Lynn G. Sever, John Weis USAID REPRESENTATIVE: Woody Navin FCS REPRESENTATIVE: James Joy RETIREE REPRESENTATIVES: William C. Harrop, David E. Reuther, Richard C. Scissors, Theodore S. Wilkinson, III IBB REPRESENTATIVE: Vacant FAS REPRESENTATIVE: Eric Wenberg USAID AFSA Studying Plans for the Millennium Challenge Corporation On Nov. 26, the administration announced plans to create an independent federal corporation, The MillenniumChallenge Corporation, to manage the MillenniumChallenge Account. Foreign Service employees and their Civil Service colleagues at USAID are concerned about how USAID and MCC will coordinate their programs and how staffing details will impact on their careers. While the MillenniumChallenge Account Committee drafts the MCC bill to submit to Congress in early 2003, AFSA at USAID is hosting a series of informal forums to collect employee comments, concerns, and suggestions, some of which might be very helpful to those crafting the MCC legislation. After two meetings and a wave of e-mails and phone calls to the AFSA office at USAID, it is clear that development assistance professionals worldwide are prepared to participate in the structure and implementation of the MCC. USAID employees are confident that they have the experience, lessons learned and field expertise crucial for the success of new approaches to development, and they are eager to ensure that people on the Hill are aware of this. AFSA has formed a virtual MCC discussion group at www.afsa.org. Lo ok for it and feel free to send comments and questions for this site. For more information, please contact AFSA VP for USAID Joe Pastic at jpastic@usaid.gov, or MCC Forums Coordinator Judy Slater at aidproject@afsa.org. Apply Now for Simon Trust Grants The J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service Trust is a charitable fund established in the memory of Kirby Simon, an FSO who died in 1995 serv- ing in Taiwan. The trust supports charitable projects that are initiated and carried out, not in an official capacity and not on official time, by FS personnel or family members around the world. Projects supported in 2002 includ- ed: supplies for a Burkina Faso center for desti- tute women and children banished on accusa- tions of sorcery; athletic equipment for a camp in Nepal for Tibetan refugees; training of teachers for squatter settlement schools in Niger; stimulation toys for abandoned babies in Kosovo; sewing machines for a Peruvian women’s microenterprise group; and many more. The trust invites submissions of proposals for support in 2003. Proposals should include: description of project; purpose; role to be played by the applicant; plan for dissemi- nating results of project; budget; other fund- ing, if applicable; and biography of applicant. Proposals must be no longer than five double- spaced pages (exclusive of budget and bio). Proposals for projects to be funded in 2003 must be received by the trust no later than Feb. 28. Go to the Web site at www.kirbysimontrust.org for more informa- tion, or call (203) 432-2698. Send proposals to the J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service Trust by mail to: 82 Edgehill Rd., New Haven, CT 06511; by e-mail to john.simon@yale.edu; or by fax to: (203) 432-0063. Holiday Party for Evacuees On Dec. 15, the Foreign Service Youth Foundation and the American Associates of the Foreign Service Worldwide sponsored a holiday party for Foreign Service families evacuated from Abidjan and Jakarta. Over 100 members of the Foreign Service communi- ty gathered for holiday cheer and festive food at Oakwood Apartments in Falls Church. The evacuees were welcomed by the new FSYF president, Anne Kauzlarich. The children created gifts and crafts at the party. Then the Falls Church Fire Department distributed presents from Santa to the children and allowed them to play on its fire truck. FSYF provided each evacuee family with a “magic key” that would allow Santa to find the children since they could not be in their home this Christmas. Following the party for younger children, the teens had their turn for fun at the FSYF Swing Dance Holiday Bash. Continued on page 4 MIKKELA THOMPSON